Day 9

Juan Gabriel, one of his "enamoradas", and Maria

Today Juan Gabriel came back over to visit, and we hung out for most of the day. We didn't do a whole lot, just hung out with the babies for a while and worked on his English a bit. Before that, Maria came over and we went to one of the schools for kids with disabilities (Santa Lucia) and got to hang out with the kids there. (I'll post more pictures later) In the photo below, you can see Juan Gabriel and one of his self-proclaimed enamoradas (girlfriend).

Later, Juan Gabriel, Juan and I walked over to Reynoso, another school for kids with disabilities and played soccer with them. Juan Gabriel had to leave before we started playing because he had to get back to Huaycán which takes about 2 hours so that he could be on time for work. But it was so cool playing soccer with those kids.

I had a couple favorite kids that we played with. One was this kid named Juan, with cerebral palsy, which affects his speech and physical movement so much that some of the kids affectionately call him "borracho" (drunk) because of the way he moves and talks. He was so cool! Every chance I got, I'd pass the ball to him as he stuck around the other team's goal, and he'd do whatever he could to try to get his legs to cooperate with him long enough to kick the ball near the goal. Well, he ended up scoring a few goals and each time it was so awesome to see the joy and excitement in his face as he "ran" back to the center of the court we were playing on.

Another kid named Frank was clearly not limited physically because he was an awesome little player. He was deaf, but it took me a while to figure that out because I could have sworn that he could hear his teammates calling for the ball because he'd kick it right to them when they were in the perfect position to score. But then I kept calling to him to ask him his name but finally realized he couldn't hear! After we finished playing, I asked him his name with my ridiculously limited sign language and he tried to spell it in the air, then on a wall, and finally we just went and got one of his friends. :-) I'll have to have Christen show me some more signs. The funny thing is that she has this video called "Signing Time" that she is always playing for the babies at Monica and Lucho's house, so I've been learning some sign language to go along with my Spanish!

On another note, I'm definitely starting to get a cold, which is definitely a bummer. Hopefully I can just rest and have it pass quickly. We'll see.

Day 6

It's kinda hard to believe that it's already Saturday. The past few days we've spent time with friends, visited schools for the disabled, and tomorrow my mom is already heading back to the US.

Wednesday, my friend Juan Gabriel came over from Huaycán (on the outskirts of Lima, takes about 2 hrs) and stayed with us for a night. We showed my mom around downtown (here are some pics from that)and then came back and hung out at Luis & Monica's house. It was so great to see him! We had some fun with PhotoBooth on my computer and were laughing hysterically. (Photobooth pics)


Friday we visited some schools for the disabled (I'll get some pics up soon) and then that night we met up with a team from The Kings Academy (a Christian school near San Jose) and got to see Erin and Pepe Macat (friends of mine that we partnered with back in 2006 when I took a small team from my church). We went to the airport and waited for the team as they were leaving and then there was another team from Alabama coming in as well.

Today, Saturday, we went to Villa El Salvador (see the pics here), where my godson Samuelito lives, and wow, we had an interesting time getting there and getting back. Monica was driving and it was the first time Christen was navigating there without Lucho, and so we went way past where we were supposed to turn off and then on the way back, we had a heck of a time finding our way. We kept having to ask for directions. But eventually we made it back.

It was so great to see Samuelito! He's now 5 and his sister, Luz Victoria (Christen's goddaughter) is now 7. I'd never really heard him talk, but this time, he was talking non-stop and he wasn't shy around me. His mom told him we were coming and he was excited. It was funny though because he knew me as "padrino" but didn't know my actual name. It was definitely fun talking with him and hanging out with him. He and I went over to one of the "stores" and he bought some chips and a soda and the 2 of us got to just sit down and hang out. This was definitely the best time I've had with him since I've known him. It'll be fun to continue to see him grow and get to know him better and better.

Please pray for Samuelito's parents Roy and Carla... they're going through a hard time in their marriage, as if their circumstances alone weren't hard enough.

Please also be praying for Pablo and Emerly. We're meeting with them Monday night and have some difficult stuff we need to talk about regarding the two of them.

On a lighter note, we went to Young Life tonight and got to hang out with some of the kids and I'm actually going to go and play soccer with them tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it! It's so cool how you can bond with other people just by playing a simple game of soccer!


Anyways, thanks for your prayers and sorry this update was so long and took so long to get posted! Please be praying for my mom as she travels back tomorrow night.

Thanks!

Jake

Day with Pablo's family

Today we got to spend the day with Pablo, Emerly and their twins, Paris and Jake (almost 9 months old). Emerly's cousin, Jenny, came with them and helped take care of the babies. We have 4 babies here right now! Monica and Luis's baby, Ana Sofia is 7 months, and the baby they are taking care of, Ana Raquel (4 months) is at their house during the week and then home with her father during the weekend. Ana Raquel's mom died while giving birth, so Luis and Monica have been taking care of her.
It was pretty relaxed today, we didn't do much... except entertain the babies, which is really not all that relaxing! Quite a new experience for me since I'm not very experienced with all of that stuff. :-)

Anyways, here are some pics from today:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015257&l=537b8&id=132500393

We're here!

Got to Peru last night 2 hours late, but everything went smoothly, even customs, so that was good. Pablo, Emerly (and their twin sons Jake & Paris), Luis (Lucho), and Christen were waiting for us. It had been 2 years since I'd seen Lucho and Pablo, so it was great to see them again. We're staying at Lucho and his wife Monica's house. I'll put up pics as I take them. Right now we're all just waking up and you probably don't want pics of us right now! :-)

Thanks for your prayers.

Waiting in the airport...

Just met up in Houston with my mom and we're waiting for our flight
which leaves at 3:55pm. She met me at the gate when I got off my
flight which is something you can't do everyday! So we're just hangin
out and catching up.

Thanks for praying for us!

Headed back to Peru

Well, what can I say? I'm headed back to Peru for the 5th time! It's actually been 2 years since the last time I was there and I really miss my friends back there!

Why am I going this time? Although I'll be doing ministry stuff while I'm there, the spark for the trip actually came from my mom, who has been wanting to go and meet my friends there and see what God's doing with the ministry. So I can thank her for getting me there! She's going to stay for a week and I'll be staying for a month (and will be trying to keep this updated).

Anyways, check out some of the videos from past trips I've been on to get a feel for what I'll be doing. (I'm not going to be sitting around doing nothing! :-)